Bears defense keeps springing leaks on 3rd-and-long

Tuesday

Aug 31, 2010 at 12:01 AM

It’s third-and-17. The Raiders throw a simple screen pass. Michael Bush gains 24 yards. Bears coach Lovie Smith called it “disappointing” and said “normally a team isn’t going to convert on third-and-17.” Well, unless they are playing against the Bears.

Bears coach Lovie Smith called it “disappointing” and said “normally a team isn’t going to convert on third-and-17.”

Well, unless they are playing against the Bears.

Chicago’s defense can’t get off the field. Even when everything points to an easy stop:

* The Raiders converted third downs of 17, 10 and nine yards against the Bears in Chicago’s second preseason game two weeks ago.

* The Cardinals were 6-for-9 converting third downs of at least seven yards against the Bears in Saturday’s third preseason game.

“That’s the biggest down, third down,” $91.5 million defensive end Julius Peppers said. “We’ve got to get off the field. We’ve got to make plays in those situations.

“We’ve got to rush better and get a little bit more pressure. We’ve got to cover better. We’ve got to get on the receivers before they catch the ball. We’ve got to tackle better if they do catch it. And we’ve got to be in the right defense.”

Peppers’ pass rushing skills were supposed to make it harder for foes to torment the Bears on third-and-long. But Peppers can’t get to the quarterback if short dump-off passes go for long yards. Bush burned the Bears that way. So did Steve Breaston and Stephen Williams of the Cardinals, who were playing without All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald.

“They are getting check downs and throwing it short when we are back in coverage,” said safety Chris Harris, who missed a tackle on Breaston’s 13-yard touchdown reception on third-and-13 Saturday. “We need to react a little quicker and get them down.”

You can’t get them down if you miss the tackle. The Bears, 0-3 in the preseason, have been missing a lot of tackles.

“Absolutely,” Harris said. “I accounted for about three of them. I’ve got to correct that.

“Tackles are going to be missed. They get paid dollars as well to play this game. But that’s not an excuse. We’ve just got to get it done.”

Third down used to be the absolute strength of Chicago’s defense. The Bears ranked either first or second in the NFL in third-down defense in Lovie Smith’s first four years as coach and were fifth in 2008.

But they sank all the way to 27th last year with a 41.2 conversion rate, often by letting teams escape third-and-long jams.

And it’s looked even worse through three preseason games in 2010.

“You should win third-and-longs,” Smith said. “We have to capitalize on that.”

If they don’t, it could be a long season for the Bears.

It already seemed long when Arizona converted consecutive third downs of 8, 8 and 7 yards on its first touchdown drive.